Saturday, August 30, 2008

Some Comic Relief on a Saturday

The repairman called and said he could come fix the fence and the back door today and it was none too soon because Carmella has been full of nervous energy.

He arrived at around 11:30 or 12:00 noon and although I was up I felt as though I could have used about 3 hours more sleep. The man came in and immediately was taken with Carmella, and she loved the attention, wagging her tail and jumping all over him. He related how he had been sick lately with chest pain that had spread to his jaw, but that a stress test showed nothing. His wife had tried to convince him to stay home today but once he ate something he felt better.

It didn't take him long to fix the fence and the door, but the door is going to need to have some wood shaved off when he comes back in two weeks due to the warping of the doorway. Luckily he was able to widen the hole the deadbolt went into since the foundation had made it uneven and sealed it shut. He had to remove it and put it back in again so that the same problem wouldn't happen all over again.

Carmella was thrilled at the chance to run around in the back yard and took off like a jet over the pine-straw-covered terrain. She wasn't satisfied with chewing up the pinecones but just had to eat them like a bad immitation of Yule Gibbons and his "going green" diet of high fiber which looked like twigs. At least I knew that she wouldn't have a problem with irregularity any time soon. That really gives new meaning to the concept of recycling. Meanwhile, the remainder of her food sat uneaten in her dish in the kitchen.

The repairman accidentally knocked down a shirt I had hung up on a hanger in the livingroom and I picked it up off the floor to get it out of range of Carmella's deadly micro-snout with needle-sharp teeth and radar for exactly the things I don't want her to discover. She seemed to come out of nowhere and suddenly took a flying leap about 4 and a half feet into the air, landing with a giant thud on her butt and then falling backward. She was definitely no cat. The repairman burst out laughing, and Carmella shot him an unimpressed look as if to say, "Oh please...like you've never fallen flat on your ass before."

The repairman remarked, "You clumsy dog", still highly amused by Carmella's antics, and Carmella looked back at him as if to say, " Oh yea, and you're a regular Mikaiel Barishnikov, I'm sure..."

Then it was back to eating pinecones again until the humid air took its toll and she came back inside panting and relaxed. She draped herself like a wet, limp towel on the livingroom carpet with front feet out in front and back legs splayed, flattened out like some sort of trophy hide used as a throw rug.

The repairman finished his work, said goodbye and left, and although Carmella had gotten quite a bit of exercise she didn't stay down for long and began to look around the house to see what kind of mischief she could get into. It wasn't long before she lost interest in her chew toys and turned her attention towards sneaking off while I was on the computer and not looking. She has been known to sneak off into a corner of a different room and pee just enough to cause an irritating odor, not really peeing because she has to pee but more the way male dogs do to mark their territory. Other than that she's pretty much house-broken. The thing is I don't know how long it will be before I can totally trust her as she has the habit of defacing property on the sly like a teenaged tagger sneaking behind a building to do his subversive artwork.

A few hours of watching her like a hawk was wearing me out and it wasn't even 1:00 O'clock yet. Then it was time to go to the Farmer's market, a people milling around like ants in every isle in preparation for the Labor Day weekend's cooking. The Bavarian rye bread at the Dekalb Farmer's Market is to die for, among other things, so I guess navigating my buggy around an obstacle course such as that one was worth it.

Carmella was ready and waiting for my return and nearly trampled my groceries to be let out again but then she couldn't decide whether she wanted to stay out or in since this time I was too tired to go with her.

After letting her out again briefly I put her back in the kichen so that I could take care of some things on Etsy. I was happy to find that someone had bought two ad slots on my blog. I got two notifications in my e-mail, and went in and approved them. I had begun to think I'd have a better chance at winning Publisher's Clearinghouse, so this has restored my faith that maybe people really aren't bored into a coma and that others may be lurking and just waiting for someone else to buy a slot first. OK, now I just know that I'm going to wake up tomorrow and find all 18 more slots accounted for! Come on Lucky number 18! Hey, it ain't Daily Candy, but those Google alerts come daily or thereabouts, and it's not like a thousand other blogs out there.

I've been trying to think of a fun blog giveaway or contest. If you guys have any ideas of one that might spark more participation please post your ideas. Maybe who can guess how many times Carmella stumbled today (just kidding).

All kidding aside; I noticed a change in Carmella tonight just a few minutes ago as she lay down and stopped moving; the jerking started again, but this time it was not only her right front leg and shoulder, but it was way worse and I saw it also where both back legs connect to her loin. I was letting her lie on my bed while watching TV and she began jerking so much it resembled someone with cerebral palsey, so much that she was shaking the bed. Now I'm really worried! It figures it would have to be Labor Day weekend and three more full days before any of these vet's offices are open. Tonight I was really beginning to worry that it would turn into a full-blown seizure. I hope her activity today was not too much and that it didn't cause neurological disease-progression. Something needs to happen soon!

Friday, August 29, 2008

Eyes On The Prize

Yesterday was a mix of joy and agony. Our plight continues to find the vet who can and will treat Carmella's Central Nervous System.

After two weeks of this increase in jerking and seeing Dr. Brantly in the interrum, we went to Dr. Norwood's office at 4:30. Felicia was happier than I've ever seen her, smiling and even came out from behind the counter to pet and play with Carmella. It had really sunk in just how much a miracle her treatment with the shot of NDV was for her body, and it seemed that the entire staff was in a festive mood. They all commented on how beautiful she was and how much she'd changed. She now weighs 24 LBS. Only two weeks ago she was just 18 LBS.

Once we'd been put in a room, the female vet tech came in (I can't remember her name, but she is the best one). She asked me if I had had any luck with Dr. Brantly doing the procedure and I said that I thought he was going to do it, but he changed his mind, but that we're still looking. She understood the ramifications of all this, and although happy with the results in the body, knew she was not through yet with what needed to be done in order for the cure to be complete. She commented to another assistant standing in the doorway that this dog was a miracle, beaming from ear to ear.

Dr. Norwood came in and started checking Carmella's reflexes, looked into her eyes, and saw her walk down the hall. She did pretty well, but stumbled at the end once when coming back to the room.Carmella was in almost constant motion and we had to get her to calm down before he would see the jerking. Eventually she stayed still enough that it started up again and he definitely saw it.

He told me that he'd had no luck with Tuskegee, and was getting pessimistic about whether any of these Universities would help unless they were already doing studies on Distemper. He was still very mousey about calling them and said he'd do it but it could turn out to be another dead end and he couldn't promise anything.

"Like with Dr. Johnson, I can't make them do it."

"Well just make an empassioned plea, show them all that you've documented about her success from the NDV in the body, and advocate as if it were your own mother who was sick and needed treatment."At this point there were no other real prospects on the table, so I figured this had at least as much chance as anything we've already tried. Up until now we'd just been approaching private practice vets. If this is still considered "experimental" then so be it; we'd just take her somewhere where they do experimental work. Seeing as that UGA is considered one of the best veterinary schools in the Southeast, they should be able to handle this. We just need to get them to try.

Dr. Norwood seemed to be angling at cutting our losses and just going with the partial cure (what we'd gotten in the body).

"The myoclonis could be permanent damage to the myelin and white matter, just residual effects of the disease."

"If that were the case then it wouldn't be increasing over time."

"We could give her Klonazapam, a veterinary version of an anti-seizure drug used in humans." I already knew what it was. Both myself and my son had taken it in the past for our seizures.

"The point is, that if the virus got into the CNS, which it would have to in order to cause that damage, then being in such an enclosed area it would still be present. To assume it's no longer there would just be guessing".

Dr. Norwood was rationalizing to make all the rejections by all the vets we'd appraoched easier to swallow. Maybe for him it would be easier to tell himself that the job was complete, but the idea of leaving this to the imagination and then ending up with worse problems down the road because we made the wrong assumption didn't sit well with me and it didn't make sense based on the biochemistry of the disease.

The CNS is a veritable fortress, and with good reason. It protects the most vital part of the body, the brain; the control tower on which all other function depends. An infection with the deadly Distemper virus is not something you want to leave sealed up for eternity in a dog's head, on a gamble that it will have mercy and not do any further damage. You can hide from it, reframe it, pretend it's not there, and remove yourself from watching its ravages, but it doesn't change the truth. Either it's there or its not. Once it gets in it doesn't just decide its had enough and go away. It's stuck in there and can adapt, hide, and mutate. It gets in via the lungs by piggybacking onto cells that already are able to cross the blood-brain barrier, but it cannot leave the same way it came.

By the end, Dr. Norwood had to admit that the only way to isolate and be sure to eradicate the virus would be to do a spinal tap. He said that UGA would want to do their own tests and probably wouldn't accept his, and it would involve spending more money. I replied that if they ended up doing the procedure then it would be worth it, and besides, if she does have permanent damage the neuro vets there would be the ones to do imaging tests to find any lesions that are there and assess the extent of the damage. If we want to weed out what is damage and what is active disease that's the way to do it.

Dr. Norwood agreed to try again to call UGA's referral coordinator the next day but had been unable to get through the day I came in.

I was up until around 5:00 AM this morning and was too desolate to post an update, and my muscles were starting to ache so I went to bed.

Dr. Norwood was in with a patient when I called this afternoon. Gwen, the office manager took a message that I was asking about the referral to UGA and said she'd have him call back, but he didn't.

I hope he's not wimping out when we need his support the most. When it's all done there will be time to celebrate, congratulate and let our guard down, but until then we are still on high alert. Failure is not an option. Carmella's life may depend upon our level of endurance and ability to go the full nine yards. Perhaps UGA's symbol; the Bulldog, should be our guiding example.http://Giftbearer.etsy.com/

Thursday, August 28, 2008

Just when I though things couldn't get any worse...they did. Things were looking up and I was finally able to turn off my hypervigilance long enough to make a new pair of hoop earrings.

Then I called Dr. Norwood's office to see whether he'd put in the referral to UGA and the other receptionist, Jocelyn got him to the phone. Dr. Norwood seemed unsure of himself when it came to talking to UGA about the need for Carmella to have this treatment and he wasn't sure whether they would be interested in a cure for Distemper, and maybe even less in trying it on one dog, even if it was going to save her life. The line between who does research and who does treatment in veterinary medicine is very fuzzy and nobody seems to be sure who is responsible for what. On one hand UGA might not do the treatment unless it already fell under a study they had planned, on the other, private practice vets won't do this because they consider it research. So where does that leave Carmella?Dr. Norwood expressed frustration at "irresponsible owners" out there who don't spay and neuter their dogs and don't have them vaccinated, and when I said to him that even if most people did that then what are those who are currently infected supposed to do. They and the owners who are good owners should not be penalyzed for the actions of others, and the focus of vaccines and prevention left dogs like Carmella absolutely out in the cold. Also, I'm not so sure that the systemic/societal problem can be explained so simply as being due to "irresponsible dog owners", especially in this bad economy in which many are falling on hard times through no fault of their own. I wouldn't be surprised whether some dogs are not being vaccinated because their owners are in foreclosure or were laid off and they have to choose whether to pay vet bills or pay to move so they themselves don't become homeless and hungry. Whether the people who are not doing those things are irresponsible or not, the dogs did nothing to deserve being left up a creek without a paddle, and they deserve to be cured if they get sick.

As for Carmella, she could not be more loved or taken care of, and as much as I think it was wrong for the shelter I got her from to conceal that she was sick, the course of events did result in getting her a good owner and me, a great dog! I don't know if there are very many people who would go through this with her and had she ended up with someone else she may have been killed the first week as soon as they realized there was something more serious than kennel cough wrong with her. I have always believed that my finding her was divinely guided and that things happened to bring us together at just the right time.

Dr. Norwood related that it was a tough week and that three people had dropped dogs off on his office doorstep which he took home with him for lack of any other place to put them. He was going to try to find homes for them through the office first, and he'd found a home for one little poodle already, but the other two were going to be less desireable and a harder sell. He said that on occasion he had to take dogs to "animal control", that many times the no-kill shelters were full and would not take even one more.

While we were talking about the under-reporting/diagnosing of Distemper he made the statement that "animal control has its place". I disagree with that and I think it is a barbaric way for humans to deal with animals they don't know what to do with, and the killing of such animals for our convenience as a species is the ultimate in irresponsibility. Furthermore, I don't like when shelters refer to that as euthanasia because in reality it's not, and it implies that we humans are doing it to "put them out of their misery", when often the real misery is in the reality that nobody wants them and they are disposed of like heaps of garbage, nobody caring that they have feelings, that they breathe, eat, and drink, and they can love. Many dogs are put to death that are salvageable, either with nothing wrong with them or something that can be fixed. Imagine if every time we got a cold or the flu, or cancer (God forbid) the determination was made to kill us because it was costing too much in resources or nobody wanted to give us medical care. If that were legislated into law for humans you can imagine the public outrage that would ensue, the letter-writing, the demonstrations, even riots!

Carmella is stuck in a no-man's land and I told Dr. Norwood that waiting for each vet to make up his mind while she has to have "supportive care" in the meantime to maintain her "living with" the disease is more costly than if they'd have just treated her when I first asked them to. He said that most private practice vets were "bleeding hearts" and could not live with their conscience if something went wrong. He thought that was even more of a factor than their fear of liability. That just doesn't hold water because if most vets in private practice were that paralyzed from taking any action that could result in a dog's accidental death or injury then why don't they take the same position each time they are asked to do surgery? Every time an animal is put under general anesthesia he/she could die, and he/she could die from the procedure itself, or suffer complications, say for instance open heart surgery, traumatic injuries to internal organs that must be repaired, and a number of other medical procedures.

To me the risk/benefit analysis in this instant is a no-brainer: If they treat her Central Nervous System there is some risk involved, but if they don't they can almost guarantee with 100% accuracy that she will get worse, and eventually die of it. If something happened (and I sure hope it won't), but if it did, then at least they would not have sat around waiting for her to die because they didn't even try to save her. Doing nothing to save her is definitely worse. How could Doctor do-nothing vets like the ones who are able to do this procedure but merely chose/choose not to (and they know who they are) have a clear conscience just because they can say they did nothing to "actively" cause her death or possible harm. That is a rationalization if I ever saw one! Just a trick of the mind, a re-write of morality of sorts. It is no better than to wittness a car accident and to stand there not calling 911 while a man or woman bleeds to death, or even more to the point, if the wittness was a doctor and failed to do CPR or provide help that he had the knowledge and skill to provide in an emergency.It is the same type of mind-set that allows women to be beaten by their abusive and violent husbands, children to be molested and raped, and allows corrupt judges and government officials to just keep on breaking the law with no consequences ever applied to them. Once we become a society built on excuses and expending more energy on new and creative ways to avoid doing, rather than on ways to do the most we can do to make the world a better place, we lose our humane-ness and our humanity completely.

Carmella's neurological disease-progression is like an evil weed that won't stay hidden from view and it dawned on Dr. Norwood as we were on the phone that this "every vet for himself", passing the buck stuff could not continue or it would be Carmella (and me) who would pay the price. As much as he blanched at the thought of approaching UGA or having to take a strong stand in the face of an industry that just didn't want to hear it, buck up he must. There is an emergency brewing and this could be put off no longer. Gone were the days that he could console himself with the thought that "maybe" she wouldn't get worse. He asked whether Dr. Sears could talk to UGA because he himself didn't know anybody there and he theorized that they wouldn't listen to his opinion because he was not as familiar with the biochemistry as Dr. Sears is, and is certainly no expert. He seemed to worry that he wouldn't come across as if he knew his stuff when faced with these board certified neuro vets from a school like UGA.

Then he said that maybe he could think of somebody at Tuskegee, his Alma Mator, then once she was treated and showing signs of recovery her case could be presented as the impetus for some of these vet schools to do clinical trials on this cure.

I came away from the conversation with renewed hope that maybe finally something would work out in the end.

Then soon after, I found out that I don't have a way to get there. I thought how ironic it would be if the one person who would and could do this injection turned out to be a vet at Tuskegee and then of all F'ing things I had no way to get there. Bear in mind that because of a disability I can no longer drive. I had to stop years ago because I was having accidents, each more serious than the one before. Greyhound does not allow dogs, and from what I've been able to deduce the closest airport is 42.3 miles away (Montgomery Dannelly Fld Airport) and it's a small one, not even on most of the airfare sites, so even so, it looks as if one would have to access at least 42.3 miles by car any way you slice it. I was able to find the nearest hotel (only a little more than a mile from the University), and by today's standards it's not bad, but it's still not cheap! So if that is where Carmella's answer lies it's going to take alot more money, and then someone who could pick me and possibly a friend up at the airport. I was shocked to find that the lowers faires were over $500 for what amounts to about an hour-long airplane ride. It's not like we'd be traceling to California! That is almost a month's income for me when I'm not making any sales.

I went online to see if there were any organizations that might be able to help and did find a few that say they help with vet expenses but I don't know if that applies also to getting there for specific treatment or just covers the treatment itself. That is what I'll be working on tomorrow. Then Carmella goes to see Dr. Norwood at 4:30 so that he can document her worsened condition. Hopefully by then we will find out if he's had any luck with any of the vets at Tuskegee. If that's a no-go, then we can go back to persuing UGA although he wasn't sure if they'd be interested since he has never gotten a call for research subjects on anything to do with Distemper. He just may need to talk to Dr. Sears again and take notes that he can use when he talks to the referral coordinator. This is one of those "feel the fear and do it anyway" situations. I've been doing that all along. Now it's some other people's turns.

If you would like to do something to help Carmella please take a look at my Etsy store, make a purchase and help save a dog.

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

It's a Rainy Day In Georgia...Feels Like it's Raining All Over The World

The constant ooze from the sky seems to match what's been going on for the past couple of days. A heaviness has settled upon this house, and as Carmella and I hunker down inside, little drafts come in all the cracks, the linolium floor barren and tracked with flecks of mud, and pieces of saturated leaves scattered about from our recent walk. Neither of us wanted to go far, making a hasty retreat from the grey light which permeated our very beings. She was glad to be finished with her bathroom activities and return to the kitchen. It almost feels like the beginning of winter.

Carmella's restlessness of the previous few days gave way to a silent gnawing tension, much as a man on death row might feel awaiting the electric chair. She did not make a move to chew on her rawhide stick, but lay down in her bed which she'd turned upside down, sprawled out and looking up at me like, "Now what?" Her right leg and shoulder jerked perceptibly as if programmed by some external remote control. She seemed almost used to it by now, nevertheless understanding the gravity of the course which lay ahead. On some level she knew that she had crossed some line in the sand and there was no turning back now for either of us.

Setting my sights on UGA I placed another call to try to verify whether I'd sent the e-mail yesterday to Dr. Schatzberg's correct e-mail address, and still the front desk staff was not sure. I was transferred to the Small Animal Clinic and spoke with a woman there about Carmella's situation and the treatment she needs, and asked whether Dr. Schatzberg was on vacation. She said he was there but just wasn't on clinic duty this week and that the three neuro vets employed there take turns rotating one week each at a time. She said that if the e-mail did not come back then he probably got it but if he didn't answer then it was probably because he got so many he couldn't get to all of them. She recommended I have my vet contact the referral coordinator and said that we could most likely find out whether they could do it before we drove all the way out there when Dr. Norwood spoke with them by phone.

I then called Dr. Norwood, and Felicia, one of the receptionists, answered the phone. I explained that Carmella's jerking was getting worse and that she needed to get the referral to UGA as soon as possible. She told me Dr. Norwood was in with a patient and did not seem to want to take down the phone and fax for the referral coordinator, but I insisted, figuring that his getting it from me later would just take extra time. I told her that they close for the day in one hour, and she said that she didn't know whether he could call them by then. I asked her to have him call me before he left.

In all, I called 4 times today, and 3 out of those 4 he was in with a patient, and the 4th time they'd put the answering machine on indicating that they had closed. My heart sank.

I wrote Dr. Sears to update him on the events of the past few days and to let him know we were going to try UGA, and asked if he could possibly put together a list of references; vets who had used this treatment either for the body or in the CNS, so that we have something organized to show them with which to make our case (if we need it). I take nothing for granted after seeing how many vets have turned us down so far.

A sudden sleepiness came over me while I paradoxically thought about the fact that I really need to make some more jewelry. Although I'd like to, I'm not sure I can stay awake much longer.

I'm still going through alot of existing inventory and listing/renewing jewelry, so if you see anything you like for yourself or for someone on your gift list, please make a purchase and help a puppy.

Monday, August 25, 2008

Strike Two! Still Waiting...

I gave it till around 3:00 pm today before checking my e-mail to see whether there was any word from the Board Certified female neuro vet located in Sandy Springs. Nothing, so I decided to call her. Surprisingly she herself picked up the phone. Hoping this was a good sign I proceeded to introduce myself and ask if she'd received my e-mail and she said,

"Yes, you're the one who wants the injection in the dog's CNS."

"Can you do it?"

"No, I couldn't" she said through what sounded like a heavy Asian accent of some kind. "I would have to see studies, or citations or something."

"He's tried and tried to publish, but they won't let him in", I said. "You can talk to him yourself. I have his number and e-mail address."

"That is not sufficient" she remarked blithely, as if blowing away a puff of smoke from a cigarette.

Was is really that easy to just turn one's back and walk away? Apparently for her it was all in a day's work. Right away I sensed she'd go home tonight and not miss a moment of sleep over Carmella, and then came that big cop-out, that ever-familiar, convenient rationalization.

"Dogs don't always progress. She might not? Maybe." It was more of a question than a statement, a futil and impotent attempt to veil her own inadequacy.

"Well she already has started to. This morning I took her out and the jerking was happening this time as she was standing on her leg. That didn't happen before, and this time it was pretty major. She had to lift up her paw several times."

Almost immediately, the vet started talking over me as if she believed if she drowned out the truth with her own voice that somehow absolved her of her guilt. Like a baby hiding behind a blanket, she told herself that the problem didn't exist because she didn't see it.

"You can bring her in, but I can't do it. It would be unethical." Bring her in and do what? I thought. Give her Phenobarbital to mask the problem, give her a valium to relax her while she slowly deteriorates and dies? So that you can lie to yourself and pretend you're helping her? So that you can charge me another $75.00 for an office visit just to refuse in-person what you have over the phone and deny her the one thing that will kill the virus and save her life? Hell no! I thought, enraged at the ludicrousy of the moment. "Unethical" my ruby red one! You want to know what's unethical? Unethical is when you have the training and the skills to save a life but you choose not to. Unethical is letting a dog twist in the wind while a deadly virus slowly shuts down every brain function one-by-one, stripping her myelin from each nerve like the shucking of the outer covering of a bundle of telephone wires with a wire-cutter! Unethical is letting fear for your own ass decide how you practice medicine instead of compassion for a living thing!

"How is that unethical? I have pictures of her improvement from the first shot already?"

"She's not even my patient".

You're right, I thought, and she won't ever be either with that attitude.

"You should really have a University work with her, not a private practice vet. There's a vet at UGA who knows alot about Distemper, not Marc Kent, not Platt..."

"Yes, that's it, Schatzberg. Ask him. He should know whether the treatment you are seeking has any merit."

Her statement left me cold. I didn't need someone to tell me whether it has merit. I've seen it! So I'm expected to leave my brain and all my senses at the door? Obviously if it's never been published it's less likely he would have heard about it unless he'd heard by word of mouth.

Soon we got off the phone after she wished me "good luck" with my dog, and suddenly I was crying. Yea right, I thought. Good luck. The expression had a sardonic sound to it. Knowing that good luck is really what people do and does not just magically appear I was not about to fall for that one. It has routinely become what people say these days from afar when they risk nothing and don't get involved. Notice that a husband accompanying his wife to the hospital and just before surgery doesn't say "Good luck". The reason for that is that he is going to know what she knows as it happens, with her every step of the way. Short of accompanying her inside the OR he is going to be there, taking on the problem by her side. In all likelihood he will be the first person she sees in the recovery room after the medical personnel.

As soon as I regained my composure I put in a call to Dr. Schatzberg. I tried several times and got just an answering machine and the name on it sounded like it said Dr. Nonn, not Schatzberg, so I wondered if he might be on vacation and that another doctor might be covering for him.

Then I sent off an e-mail. There seemed to be two lines and first I tried it with just what was on the first line and got no "undeliverable" messages back, but when I tried it with both lines it did come back as "undeliverable" so I'm still not sure whether he got either of them. I will call again tomorrow.

Here is a re-print of my e-mail below:

****************************************************************

Dear Dr. Schatzberg,

I adopted a puppy from an animal shelter that I named Carmella, and she turned out to have Distemper. I looked far and wide to find out the best treatment available and came across Dr. Alson Sears’ protocol using Newcastle Disease Virus Vaccine (the LaSota strain) off-label, which is as far as I know the only thing that has really eradicated the virus successfully in dogs. My regular vet tried it on her (an IV to treat the virus in the body) and it worked quite well. When she was first diagnosed they didn’t know if she’d even make it through the weekend, but the treatment really brought her back! The only problem is that she also needs to have it injected into the spinal area, the Foramen Magnum, because it does not cross the blood-brain barrier when injected in the body. Her Central Nervous System is still infected, and although she is dramatically better in every other way, her neuro symptoms are gradually getting worse. My vet has never done a spinal tap before, so although he would do it if he had the skills he does not feel qualified. I have had a hard time finding a vet who is both qualified and willing to do this, and it appears that there are only two board certified neuro vets in Atlanta (and about 4 listed in Athens).

It is a real shame that the medical journals up till now have refused publishing Dr. Sears’ papers on this discovery, and I really think an academic institution should step in and do clinical trials on this treatment and begin to document and publish findings on its effectiveness. As of yet I have not been able to find anybody but Dr. Sears even attempting to look for a cure for distemper. I looked through PubMed the other night for several hours and although there are studies that circumstantially hint that this could work, most of the studies are aimed at testing better vaccines to prevent; not cure the disease. Somebody should be very interested in this, as I have pictures showing that after the initial shot by IV Carmella’s pads completely healed within just about 2 weeks after injection with NDV. This bird-based vaccine, mostly used in the poultry industry is manufactured by Merial right here in Georgia, and Dr. Sears has a formula that is a dog-based serum which he has given people permission to post online and to use to treat infected dogs. One vet I have spoken with tells me that he knows a vet in Alabama who uses the dog-based serum regularly in the body and reports great results with it. This is good, but these dogs need vets who are willing to test and treat in the Central Nervous System as well, and the most likely candidates to take on this challenge are neuro vets with an interest in research.

Maybe Merial would fund a study if you put in an application. It’s something to seriously consider. They seem to have done a fair amount on Distemper and may be very interested if their product could be proven to kill the virus; not just be used as a vaccine to prevent it. It might be worth testing both the NDV and dog-based formula. Publishing something would remove it from the virtual no-man’s land it currently sits in, and could be of great benefit to science and to Veterinary Medicine, not to mention having the potential to make a significant dent in the epidemics in shelters which probably cost billions of dollars nationwide.

It seems that given Carmella’s success with the first injection that as long as she gets this early enough she should have a good prognosis with the spinal injection as well. If ever there was a good candidate for a successful outcome it is her. Her secondary pneumonia is almost gone after several weeks of antibiotics (2 weeks of that with Azithromyacin), and she is otherwise healthy. Her weight is back up, and she is eating and drinking well. She has boundless energy, (unlike before the first shot when she was lethargic). She should be able to withstand anesthesia. I don’t want to wait until the symptoms are too extreme because then it might be too late to prevent permanent damage from the Distemper virus.Currently she has mild to moderate chorea in the right front leg and sometimes shoulder which happens intermittently. So far it has not affected her activity overall and happens mostly when she’s at rest. In addition she has an occasional moment of clumsiness, but so far no seizures or overt paralysis. Even so, over the past day or so I’ve noticed a gradual worsening and this morning her right front leg was jerking perceptibly even while she was standing on it while I took her out for a walk and she had to lift her paw on a few occasions. (Some of the vets I’ve spoken with in recent weeks took the position that “maybe” it won’t progress but I think that ship has already sailed).

I hope you can help her, as I’ve run out of people to ask in the Atlanta area and I don’t know how much time we have before she gets even worse. She is a beautiful, loving dog and I want to do everything I can to save her.

If you’d like to speak with Dr. Sears to find out more about this treatment he developed I have two phone numbers for him and an e-mail address; (phone numbers removed from public view), and e-mail: AntiDistemper@aol.comHe and I have been in contact for a few weeks now. He is willing to speak with any vet I work with on this.

Please contact me as soon as possible. It would be a big load off my mind if you will do this. Carmella deserves this chance. She is a very special dog, and not only to me. When you meet her in person you will know what I mean.

Sincerely,

Pippit Carlington

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Buy exquisite art jewelry and save a dog! You can help Carmella by shopping in my Etsy store. Proceeds are going to pay her medical expenses. If I have to go to UGA for her to receive treatment that will likely be an added expense on top of what it is already , so your purchase is greatly appreciated at this time.

Sunday, August 24, 2008

Why Don't They Want A Cure For This Disease? Haunting Question, Sickening Answer

When I looked for studies the other night regarding cures for Distemper and didn't find any at all even looking for one, I had the nagging question why? Surely other researchers have thought about it. How could they not? It reminded me of the work I'd done while working on the Marshall Protocol research team and the answer we found as to why none of the researchers other than the one who'd developed the protocol I was on had been looking for a cure for Sarcoidosis. The answer to that question when we discovered the truth was downright bone-chilling. In that case it turned out that the small elite group of researchers who controlled what got into medical journals were all funded by drug companies who had a competing interest with any cure. These companies were only interested in creating maintenence medications designed for the sole purpose of "living with" the disease. The problem was that often even after taking such medications patients developed major organ failure and then death, so in fact the whole premise the drugs were built on was a Big Lie. (I received an e-mail from one such woman in just the past two weeks). The doctors who were funded to do research on those drugs went to great lengths to conceal the truth, so much so that they would stop at nothing to make sure that nobody would touch any cure which came out with a ten foot pole. They were placed on the committee that set the standards in the treatment of Sarcoidosis through NIH, NHLBI, the department under which Sarcoidosis falls. That was the committee that put out the very propaganda that doctors were using as guidelines on how to treat paitients!

Looking at this as a model, I wondered if something similarly sinister might be going on in Veterinary Medicine. After doing some thinking it occurred to me that the reason in this case might be two-fold; that drug companies and even some vets think they can make more money if they assume a dog could live up to 8 years with the disease and intermittantly have to give it "supportive care". Of course they downplay the fact that the disease continues to do damage and that if a dog lives to age 8 it is likely to suffer severe symptoms like seizures and paralysis at that point. Maybe that’s their idea of “doing well” but it’s not mine. When you consider that NDV only costs about .83 a vial, so two vials of it only amounts to a few dollars in cost to treat both the body and the CNS, neither the drug companies nor the vets are making much on that (other than the anesthesia and other surgery costs for the CSF procedure), and the other possible motive is that the people in top positions of power in Veterinary Medicine might be secretly hoping that all infected dogs will just die off through "natural selection" if they do nothing to cure them, and that Distemper as a disease will at some point be self-limiting once the number of dogs vaccinated starting early in life reaches a certain level.

I wonder whether the latter explanation has ever occurred to any of the vets working in research settings or in private practice, and that maybe they are being fed a line of bull by their own industry? Hopefully with a little critical thinking the ones who became vets for the right reasons can see their way clear to question why nobody who runs these journals is interested in publishing a possible cure. It is not always the treatment that's suspect. Obviously if people are empirically reporting that something works, and there are no horror stories of anything going wrong with it when used correctly there must be something there. All these people could not be making this up.

It also seems to me that case studies and clinical trials could be done right now by the vets who have used NDV (and the dog-based serum) in the body and have had success with that. At least that would spur more interest in doing clinical trials on its use in the CNS.

It's time for those vets to step up to the plate and do some writing and submitting to these journals. If they get enough requests from seperate vets and institutions it will be increasingly difficult to keep them out.In Sarcoidosis in humans it took for doctors to disregard the bull they'd been told by the group of biased researchers and try the protocol anyway, but I don't know whether vets have as much guts. Everyone seems to be hoping another vet will be the first to take the risk, and everyone is pretty much sitting on their hands. Just where does the buck stop? How many dogs have to die of neglect before someone will take this up and do something about it?Carmella has been restless the past 2 days. She is almost hyperactive, constantly chewing on things including my hands, my pants leg, and other clothing. She has chewed up both cords to my fax machine and now I have to buy a new heavy duty electrical cord before I can use it. Last night she chewed up the strap on my backpack. Her chew toys don't seem to be enough anymore. I finally had to take her out of the computer room and put her back in the kitchen while I was working in that room for fear she'd chew up those cords too.

Her jerking is about the same when she's not in constant motion, but I wonder what else the virus might be doing to her brain while all these vets are weighing their options.

If the fence did not have a board missing I'd let her out in the back yard to run around for awhile but the repairman has not been back to fix it.

I found that letting her play tug-of-war with an old towel got some of her excess energy out but it took a long time before she was tired enough to lie down and chill out.

Well, tomorrow people will be back in their offices and I can pick up where I left off in looking for a vet to do the CNS injection. I hope to hear from the female neuro vet that I e-mailed on Friday and hope that her answer is yes.You can help Carmella in her recovery by helping with her vet bill. At least then money will not be a barrier to her receiving all the help she needs. As of yet I have had very few buyers in my Etsy store purchasing pieces since the beginning of this effort. I need to raise at least $1,000 and I'm nowhere near that goal. If you would like to help an animal here's your chance to do so in a very concrete way. I hope that my work is not missing the mark in what people are looking for. If you don't see what you want in my shop please contact me through Etsy and place a custom order. Buy jewelry and save a dog!http://giftbearer.etsy.com/

Saturday, August 23, 2008

Pulling A Weed Out By The Root

Sometimes working on a scale of one isn't enough. Last night I wrote another neuro vet, but I began thinking larger than Carmella's case alone. It dawned on me that in order to get the right people to care about her I was going to need to tackle this problem systemically. Having worked as an advocate for a number of other causes in my lifetime I knew this to be the case in many instances, and the negative and opposing forces I've come up against in the past few weeks called for bigger guns that what I'd been packing so far.

Identifying the problem as one of globalized and system-wide attitudinal fear, I knew that the way to remove such barriers can only come with a multi-pronged approach. Just getting one vet to think outside the box would require that I affect the current thinking of the field in which he/she works, at least begin to make in-roads in that endeavor. Like human doctors, vets are guided to think and to act by whomever's opinion they respect and see as Gold Standard. God himself could come forward and unless He had the official "stamp of approval" ordained by those who set the requirements, they'd dismiss him out of hand even if he walked on water before their very eyes.Tonight I set about searching the internet for studies to send to Dr. Brantly, sent off 13 that I thought might prove that she needed to be treated now, shocked to discover that nobody besides Dr. Sears was even doing research on a cure, only better vaccines to prevent the disease! Then as I was browsing around I stumbled on a website of Cornell School of Veterinary Medicine, Baker Institute of Animal Health that mentioned Distemper. As I read about a man who'd been memorialized in the school's newsletter as instrumental in developing vaccines for distemper, something bothered me. There was a statement in the write-up implying that Distemper had pretty much been wiped out. Right away I knew I had to correct that misinformation because the perception that the disease isn't really a problem is one thing that only adds to the field's lack of urgency in promoting a cure for it. There are those who find ignorant solace in believing that adequate vaccinations are given to all dogs and that there are no homeless dogs not getting these vaccines, and none spreading the disease in shelters. There are many who still assume that shelters give all the needed vaccinations, but these assumptions are dangerous untruths that prevent Carmella and dogs like her from getting the help they need. One only need go to some of these shelters and look into the vacant, glazed, and squinty dogs' eyes and look at their concentration-camp-survivor-like gaping ribcages, because once you learn what an untreated dog with Distemper looks like you will never forget it!I just had to write Cornell Veterinary School and let them know that Distemper is still a threat here in the US and that as an academic institution there is an opportunity here once informed for them to be part of the solution.Below is a reprint of my e-mail to them:

To Whom It May Concern:

I read the article on your website about Max Appel, the man who came up with vaccines for distemper. It says that Distemper (among other diseases) is "a thing of the past". This leaves one with the wrong impression that there is no current problem. I wish! I adopted a puppy from a local shelter that I absolutely fell in love with, brought her home, and found out that she has/had distemper. Now I have spent over $1,000 in only a few week's time to save her life, and had to pursue a rare treatment with Newcastle Disease Virus Vaccine (the LaSota strain) used off-label. She has done remarkably well after the IV, but still needs an injection of it into the spinal canal to kill the virus still remaining in the CNS, only the problem is I can't find a vet willing to do it. They're all too afraid of liability because it's "experimental". Well, I looked tonight for several hours and absolutely nobody in medical journals from what I can tell is offering any kind cure and it seems nobody’s even interested in one.The man who developed this, Dr. Alson Sears DVM, now 71 and retired has tried and tried to publish his findings but nobody in power wants to hear it. Unofficially, he is sought by word-of-mouth all over the world because his treatment works! Right now there is a real epidemic in shelters needing to be addressed but nobody's openly talking about it either for the most part. Distemper, unfortunately is alive and well in the US, and I think up and coming researchers need to promote this new discovery, test it, and publish it. These dogs don't have to suffer and die, but in order to bring that into being vets need to start using this, not just leave it sitting there. What would happen if all the major discoveries for other deadly diseases were just tabled indefinitely because they were “experimental”? I think we’d be an endangered species and so would our dogs! Everything in medicine is/was experimental at one time, but I think we really need to ask ourselves who we are serving when somebody comes up with something that shows real merit and the medical journals won’t allow that researcher to publish it. That is really unfair because it makes the doctor look like some fringe nut when in fact he’s really onto something brilliant, and it deprives perfectly viable dogs of life and allows them to suffer. Sure, doing a spinal tap is not without some risk, but when dogs have a deadly disease like Distemper and the virus has crossed the blood-brain barrier the benefit is worth that risk.

I believe that if some researchers were to take this on and start doing and publishing clinical trials (and even publish case histories) it could revolutionize the quality of life for pets and their owners, not to mention drastically cut costs of shelters, as NDV only costs about .38 a vial. Promoting prevention is all well and good, but what about all the dogs who are infected on the street and in shelters who will then be adopted out (or euthanized) set up for a life of tragedy?

Right now it is generally accepted for dogs in Carmella’s condition to be given “supportive care” and most vets seem perfectly OK with letting the standard stay that way. They should not be. Just as advocates pushed to get a cure found and recognized as a priority for breast cancer in humans, we should expect no less for our dogs. Researchers already suspect that there are many parallels between Distemper in dogs and MS in humans, so the life you’re saving in taking on this cause, one day just might be your own.

It sure looks to me like the evidence suggests that we now have a cure for Distemper ready and waiting, but until the powers-that-be legitimize it vets in practice are not touching it with a 10 foot pole.

My dog, Carmella now has chorea in her right front leg which has gradually gotten worse as I ask one vet after another to please help her ASAP, they say they’ll “think about it” and then one by one they say no. Some of them neatly rationalize that “maybe” it won’t progress any further, and that she “might still live a normal life and do well”, but this is not a guessing game anyone would gamble their mother’s life with. To many of us our dogs are not merely animals, but another member of the family. I searched for the right puppy for a very long time, very intensively, looking through hundreds of listings, and quite a number of shelters, and I’m not about to just consider her not my problem as these doctors (who have vowed to help animals and preserve life) have done.

I have taken pictures of Carmella’s recovery thus far, so I know that this stuff works, and I’ve seen it with my own two eyes, as has the vet who treated her with it for the rest of her body. He has never done a spinal tap, so that’s why we need to find another vet to do that part. Her paw pads started healing within only 2 days after her IV of NDV, and she completely turned around (except for her neuro symptoms). She started eating and drinking normally, growing, her coat is healthy and her eyes are bright and wide open, she is interested in her surroundings, and she can now be active and play like any other puppy. When I first got her she was emaciated and now she’s gained weight. Unless she were lying down you might not realize that she’s still sick, because that’s when her leg starts jerking, an ominous reminder that the virus is still lying in wait.

I am talking with people here in Georgia about putting in a proposal for a clinical trial, but I think it would be really important for other University vet schools to do the same. Doing so could help a lot of dogs, and how many times do you get the opportunity to be on the ground floor of proving a new cure!Please run this by some vets you think might be up to the challenge, and let me know what they say.

I’m attaching a picture of Carmella so that you can see what a gorgeous dog she is! Hers, like many others’ lives hangs in the balance.

Sincerely,

Pippit CarlingtonYou can help Carmella get well by purchasing something from my Etsy store. Proceeds are going to pay off her vet bill. If you buy jewelry somewhere I ask that you buy it here and make your purchase really count. Thanks for your support.http://Giftbearer.etsy.com/

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Artist Bio

Pippit Carlington works in several mediums;
including acrylics, watercolor, drawing, clay sculpture, and jewelry. A multicultural influence is evident in her work reflecting a diverse heritage of Iroquois Indian, Hawaiian, Russian Jewish, and French Canadian. She is strongly influenced by nature, political and social issues, and uses her art to educate the public.
Pippit has received formal art training at Callenwolde Center for the Arts, The Atlanta College of Art, and Atlanta Jeweler’s School and Studios.
She has sold and exhibited her art at numerous stores/galleries.
She has participated in the following art shows;
The Sandy Springs Festival
Annual GA. Microenterprise Network Conference
For Sisters Only
The Spring Fling at Simpsonwood
Sweet Auburn Festival
Inman Park Festival
Arts In The Garden
Goodwill Christmas Bazaar
United Way Christmas Art Show
AutumnFest
She has also marketed her work on Ebay and more recently ETSY, both online venues, and is coordinator of The Art Jewelry Collective, a group of jewelry artists with Etsy online stores in an effort to bring more customers with high-end taste to the site.